Budgeting & Forecasting applications are often considered inflexible in comparison to Excel, which allows you to add or change formulae and layouts at will.
The inflexibility of Budgeting & Forecasting applications is mainly due to their lack of customization options, which makes it difficult to adapt them to different scenarios. These limitations can also restrict the ability to quickly react and adjust plans as market conditions change. Ultimately, this inflexibility may lead to higher costs for businesses in terms of time and resources spent on manual data entry and adjustment, or even worse force the business to switch back to spreadsheets.
However, some modern budgeting & forecasting applications are starting to incorporate more advanced features that allow users greater flexibility when creating budgets or forecasts.
By utilizing these tools, businesses can create tailored plans that are better suited to changing market conditions while saving time and money. Ultimately, inflexibility can be overcome by utilizing the right budgeting & forecasting application that is tailored to your particular needs.
In selecting the right application, businesses will ensure they have the flexibility and control needed to make accurate and timely forecasts while staying within their budgets. With the right application in place, organizations can stay on track with their financial objectives with minimal effort.
Whether you use Excel or a Budgeting & Forecasting application, they all require a certain amount of time and effort to set up and configure.
This is especially true for users who have limited technical skills or lack the resources necessary to customize their software package.
Due to the inflexible nature of many budgeting and forecasting applications, they are unable to take into account changes in business circumstances that may occur over time, leading to inaccurate projections.
While this inflexibility can be seen as a drawback of these types of applications, some companies find it valuable because it ensures consistency throughout the financial process. By using an inflexible system, businesses can also minimize any human errors that would otherwise be made when manually inputting data.
Ultimately, the inflexibility of budgeting and forecasting applications is a double-edged sword, and it’s up to the user to decide if the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
At ProForecast we recognise these limitations and have addressed them in two ways, 1) by creating a professional services department which allows users to make and add features to suit their business inexpensively and cost-effectively and 2) by marrying AI & our FP&A consultants to make the setup process quicker and easier.
With many applications, new features are driven by a roadmap that means that users are at the mercy of the timetable of the application provider, with ProForecast we can discuss the features you need, draw up a specification and a fixed price that will then enable the system to be customised to exactly fit the timescale and business requirements.